Articles: Chemistry

What are atoms and molecules? These tiny particles make up everything in the universe, even the the smallest nanotechnologies. That’s pretty small! Come see how atoms and molecules are the building blocks of everything around us.

Before you call the typo police, we are talking mussels, not muscles. Researchers at Purdue University have developed an adhesive that is based upon the same stuff that mussels use to stay stuck to wooden poles, rocks and other places that mussels like to ... Read More...

Methane is the building block of a lot of different fuels. There are a variety of methanes sources (think cows!) but on source of methane is to make it from carbon dioxide. There is lots of carbon dioxide but converting it to methane requires energy. ... Read More...

Scientists come in all shapes, sizes and colors. One of the super heros of nanotechnology died last week. Mildred Dresselhaus. Who? Dresselhaus was one of the pioneers in the discovery of carbon nanotubes and predicted their existence long before anyone even saw one. Carbon ... Read More...

Windows! they let us look out on the world from our room and see all sorts of stuff. But could windows do more? Researchers have used nanotechnology to create efficient solar collectors which can collect energy from the sun. They make tiny silicon nanoparticles that ... Read More...

Scientists at Vanderbilt University have discovered a new use for the machine that is used to make cotton candy. Cotton candy is basically sugar that is spun into thin fibers. The cotton candy machine was invented by William Morrison a dentist in collaboration with a ... Read More...

To celebrate the holiday season, why not some art? The image is gold nanowires that are being 'grown' on silicon. Nanowires are important for a variety of microelectronics. To grow them scientists have to perfect the recipe by trying different combinations of ... Read More...

Nanotechnology can offer lots of solutions to many of today's challenges. In the world of medicine, the Food and Drug Administration is responsible for regulating medicine and medical devices in the US. The FDA has recently adopted three standards for things like particle size distribution, ... Read More...

Actually, Sherlock Holmes said, “Elementary, my dear Watson,” but it’s close. A collection of 118 existing elements are detailed on the periodic table and range from the most versatile, carbon, to the funny-sounding ytterbium. But what makes each element unique? The answer is actually fairly ... Read More...

No assembly required. Just puff. That is about all you need to make a soap bubble. Well, of course you need soapy water and something to make a thin layer of soapy water. But add a slow and careful puff of air and you’ve got ... Read More...

Not everything that is made on the nanometer scale is made in a laboratory. Nature is full of nanometer-sized stuff, some of which happens by self-assembly. DNA and proteins are made using enzymes, little tools that take the parts and put them together, so these ... Read More...

The word “atom” comes from the ancient Greek word meaning ”undivided.” They thought that an atom couldn’t be cut into anything smaller, which we now know is not exactly right.
Atoms are mostly empty space and scientists think that there might be 200 or more subatomic ... Read More...

Chemists swear by it, but for the rest of us the periodic table is like a bunch of stuff organized more like your closet at home, with things stuffed into places just because they fit.
In fact, there is a method: the rows (across) are called ... Read More...

The four important things to know about nanotechnology
So nanotechnology is new and cool and there are zillions of things to read about it. But what is really important to know before trying to figure out what all this nanotechnology stuff is about? Well first...
Nanotechnology is ... Read More...

The periodic table is a list of all of the atoms that we know of. But are those all the atoms on Earth or in the universe? Back in 1982, meitnerium was not on the periodic table. So who discovered it and how?
New elements are ... Read More...

Do molecules have a real shape or are they just some kind of random blob like a piece of jello? Well, molecules do have shape (even the molecules that make up jello have shape) and their shape is important. Some molecules, like enzymes (which are ... Read More...

So just how big is a molecule?
Molecules are made up of atoms and all things are made of atoms. Not quite everything; light isn’t, and sound isn’t either. But the things that we see when light hits them are made of atoms, and we hear ... Read More...

Everything is made of atoms. So to make anything, you need to start off with atoms. Usually a lot of atoms. A whole lot of atoms. What is the smallest thing that you can see with just your eyes? Maybe a grain of salt. Well ... Read More...

Things at the nanoscale are a little different. Think about your room at home. If you dont work at putting stuff away, things become a mess. At the nanoscale sometimes things arrange themselves without you having to do anything. This is a process ... Read More...

Think of the shape of a molecule. What image pops into your head? Probably the double-helix shape of DNA. It is so familiar that when you see a double helix, you immediately think of DNA.
The double-helix shape of DNA was discovered by Francis Crick and ... Read More...

Do molecules have a real shape or are they just some kind of random blob like a piece of jello? Well, molecules do have shape (even the molecules that make up jello have shape) and their shape is important. Some molecules, like enzymes (which are ... Read More...